Salvation & Redemption by Fr. Panayiotis Papageorgiou, M.Div., Ph.D. Monday, July 1, 13 Even the Words Matter! Diverse Vocabulary: Redemption Salvation Expiation Propitiation Atonement Ransom Incarnation Deification We need to start somewhere! Monday, July 1, 13 The Most Influential Concept Atonement is the most significant concept related to Salvation and Redemption with respect to the effect on contemporary American Christian theology and life Four major theories of Atonement have been proposed and circulated in Western Christianity in the last 900 years with serious implications on the understanding of personal salvation and the relationship with God. Monday, July 1, 13 First Theory of Atonement A. The Ransom or Bargain theory: The Fall of Adam and Eve sold humanity to the devil. Humanity came under the devil's ownership. A debt was owed to the devil and ransom needed to be paid so that the devil can free us. ! Solution: God tricks the devil into accepting Jesus' death as a ransom. His sacrifice and death satisfies the claims of the devil for justice. In providing himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God Jesus has freed fallen humanity from the devil's claim over us. (In addition, since hades and death cannot contain Jesus he is raised from the dead.) This view dominates Western theology before the eleventh century and begins to be modified since then. Monday, July 1, 13 Second Theory of Atonement B. Anselm's theory of debt or satisfaction (proposed by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury in the eleventh century) !This is based on the idea of total depravity of man after the Fall: Man's sin (which is absolute depravity) must be punished by God absolutely. God's honor and justice demands that the debt owed to God must be paid off so that justice may be satisfied. The debt is owed to God by the human race (not to the devil), but humanity is in total depravity (fallen and sinful) and cannot pay the debt to God in order to satisfy His justice and free us from punishment. Even if we repent from our sins we cannot be forgiven because the justice of God has to be satisfied. Divine justice and offended honor demand that punishment be exacted. God is unable to forgive until a debt is paid to Him. ! Solution: Only Jesus could pay the debt because he is sinless and perfect (substitutionary atonement). The Son of God is punished by God the Father in our place so that His wrath and justice might be satisfied. The Son of God saves us from the vengeance of God the Father by taking the punishment himself. Ramifications: Legalistic approach to salvation - Indulgences developed. The theology of the "Angry God" comes out of this understanding. Monday, July 1, 13 Third Theory of Atonement C. The Penal Substitutionary theory of atonement - developed by the Protestant Reformers !This is a further refinement of Anselm's theory of debt/satisfaction: Where Anselm's theory emphasizes that Christ paid the debt we owe to God, the penal substitutionary theory emphasizes that Christ received the punishment that we deserve, therefore we no longer need to be punished. Ramifications: Here is the foundation of the popular protestant understanding that once you are saved you are always saved, because Jesus paid the debt for all your sins, so you are not responsible for any of your sins any more. From this, a new idea sprouted called "the gospel of success", that if Jesus suffered on our behalf, then if we believe in Him we should not suffer any more in this life or the next and live a prosperous life in every way.) Popular Atonement Understanding in Contemporary Western Christianity: !In the popular understanding the prevalent atonement theology is a combination of the above three theories: ransom / bargain, debt / satisfaction and penal / substitutionary Monday, July 1, 13 Fourth Theory of Atonement D. The Moral Exemplar theory of atonement !This theory was first proposed by Peter Abelard in the eleventh century in reaction to Anselm's theory of debt / satisfaction theory and was re-introduce by liberal theologians in the 19th and 20th centuries to counter the legalism of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. !In his reaction to Anselm, Peter Abelard pointed out that God does not need the death of His son in order to forgive sins, but can do it quite easily without any sacrifice. The purpose of Christ's life on earth, Abelard claims, is to provide for humanity a perfect moral model and an example of love for us to follow. Abelard, thus, deemphasized Christ's death on the cross and focused on His love and kindness. Abelard's view of Christ, though true to a degree, neglects the entire Christian understanding of Christ's Incarnation as a transforming process for humanity and the whole creation. He ignores Christ's death and resurrection as transformative events which change human nature and provide a mystical and spiritual re-connection of man to God and instead reduces everything to a moral paradigm for us. Ramifications: Modern liberal theologians have used Abelard's ideas to develop what we know as "the social gospel of softness, kindness and love" which lacks of the Divine Presence of Christ and His transformative power for humanity. Monday, July 1, 13 Salvation According to the Fathers of the Early Church Salvation (σωτηρία) and Redemption (λύτρωσις) In the use of the church fathers (including the early Christian writers) the two terms are used together and interchangeably, almost as synonyms. Christ is Λυτρωτής και Σωτήρ ψυχών και σωμάτων = The Redeemer and Savior of souls and bodies. The view of humanity is that it is fallen and sick, we are captives to our passions and slaves to our sins. We are held hostage by the condition of death and the fear of death leads us to sin. λύτρωσις has two meanings: delivery, release and redemption εξαγορά using λύτρα- a ransom. Both of these concepts are found in the early Christian fathers. σωτηρία (Salvation) is derived from the noun σώος which means "to be safe and sound" or "alive and well". Salvation has a sense of restoration as well as safety. Monday, July 1, 13 Scriptural Texts St. Paul's cry, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me?" (Rom. 7:24). "Through fear of death, they all became subject to lifelong bondage" (Heb. 2:15). "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Rom. 1:25). "From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within (Mk. 7:21-23). Promise of Salvation in Ezekiel Ezekiel assures the people that God will not only cleanse them but will also put within them a new heart and a new spirit: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ez. 36:25ff.). Baptism as a rite of purification: "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11). Monday, July 1, 13 Bondage to Sin and Death For Orthodoxy, humanity is not a static, timeless reality. Human beings are understood in terms of relationships, they are in the process of becoming persons as they relate in love with God and the world. Evil consequently is whatever ruptures humanity's communion with God and interrupts the process of attaining the fullness of humanity. The Scriptures name three sources and forces of evil “satan”, “sin”, and “death”. The consequences of the fall are not a divine punishment but a usurpation, an illegitimate tyranny exercised by Satan over God's creation. Humans are seen as victims of the universal reign of death (indeed Satan is “a murderer from the beginning”; Jn. 8:44). "Through fear of death, they all became subject to lifelong bondage" (Heb. 2:15) Death is holding humanity in bondage. Salvation is the transcendence of death. What is transmitted from parents to children is not sin but mortality and corruption, creating a condition where sin is inevitable: "Having become mortal," writes Theodore of Cyrus, "[Adam and Eve] conceived mortal children, and mortal beings are necessarily subject to passions and fears, to pleasures and sorrows, to anger and hatred." Monday, July 1, 13 Bondage to the Law For St. Paul the chief enemies of humanity are sin, death and the Law (of Moses). They are linked together holding humankind in bondage. St. Paul considers the law as a kind of emergency measure, provided by God to deal with the crisis of human sin (Gal. 3:15-29; cf. Rom. 10:4). The Law of Moses was meant as a tutor to prepare the people for Christ (Rom. 2:14-15; Gal. 3:23-26; Rom. 10:4). Instead the Law was treated as a goal unto itself and thus became a tyrant. People looked to the keeping of the law for their security, and so we may say that even the law of Moses became an idol, with demonic power. The consequence of the unholy alliance between sin and the Law is the rule of death. Death is the product of a life in which relationships have been broken.